Ice T
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| Ice T | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tracy Lauren Marrow |
| Also known as | Ice Oscillator Iceberg Nestea |
| Born | February 16, 1958 Newark, New Jersey, USA |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California |
| Genre(s) | Hip hop Gangsta rap Heavy metal |
| Occupation(s) | Actor Emcee Musician Songwriter |
| Years active | 1982 - present |
| Label(s) | Sire/Warner Bros. Records Rhyme $yndicate/Priority/EMI Records Atomic Pop |
| Associated acts | Body Count Rhyme Syndicate Analog Brothers Bronx Style Bob Everlast Divine Styler Donald D Lord Finesse |
| Website | IceT.com |
Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958)[1], better known by stage name Ice-T, and nickname O.G. (Original Gangsta), is an American rapper/emcee, actor, heavy metal singer, author, and former United States Army soldier. He was instrumental in creating gangsta rap. Much of his music is politically oriented, although this has declined with time. Since 2000, he has played the role of Det. Fin Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. As of 2007, Marrow resides in North Bergen, New Jersey with a second home in Chandler, Arizona.[2]
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[edit] Biography
Although one of West Coast hip hop's leading figures, Marrow, son of Solomon and Alice,[3] was actually born in urban Newark, New Jersey, and christened Tracy by his father. When he was a child, he moved from his native Newark to the upscale community of Summit, New Jersey. His mother died of a heart attack when he was in third grade and his father died of a heart attack four years later.[4] After his father died, he went to live with his paternal aunt in South Central Los Angeles' Crenshaw district.
Marrow attended Crenshaw High School, where he became obsessed with hip-hop music, often reciting rhymes for classmates. It was during this time[5] that his daughter Letesha[3] was born. After leaving high school, he joined the U.S. Army; he has stated he did not enjoy the experience, explaining, "I didn't like total submission to a leader other than myself."[6]
He was previously in a relationship with Darlene Ortiz (1986–2002), who was featured on the covers of his early albums. During that relationship, which ended in 2002, they had one child together, Tracy Marrow Jr. In 2004, Ice married swimsuit model Nicole Austin, known professionally as CoCo.[7]
[edit] Career
[edit] Stage name
Marrow's stage name Ice-T was a moniker styled after the famous ex-pimp turned author Iceberg Slim. In an introduction to the 1996 Canongate Books reprint of Iceberg Slim's 1969 autobiography Pimp, Ice-T explained: "Although I never met the man, Iceberg Slim was to have a profound effect on my career and life... Like him, I wanted to be somebody who didn't just die there out on the streets. I wanted to be able to document some of my experiences, and that's what I've been trying to do in my music for the past decade. I took my rap name in tribute to him, and I've never regretted it. He was a real hustler."
All of Ice-T's records on Sire/Warner Bros. Records spell his name Ice-T, while the spelling without the hyphen is more often used on more recent records. His earliest 12" shows the spelling Ice "T", other 12"s use Ice-T (Reckless, Ice Skillet, Slippery Pete) and Ice T (Ya Don't Quit). Ice-T has also been referred to as 'Skillet' or 'Ice Skillet', a nickname used by fans in his early years, and Iceberg, a nickname used on the albums Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say and Gangsta Rap, and in the 2004 video game Def Jam: Fight for NY, where in the story section of the game, a character based on him says, "You cannot defeat the Iceberg, punk."
[edit] Music career
After leaving the Army, Ice-T began his extremely long career of recording raps for various studios on 12-inch singles. These tracks were later compiled on The Classic Collection and also featured on disc 2 of Legends of Hip-Hop. His first song was "The Coldest Rap" in 1982. His first official gangsta rap record was "6 in the Mornin'" one of the first of that sub-genre ever recorded. He said he was influenced by the Schoolly D record "P.S.K.," considered by many to be the first gangsta rap record (as it lionized the Philadelphia gang Park Side Killers).
He finally landed a deal with a major label Sire Records. When label founder and president Seymour Stein heard his demo, he said, “He sounds like Bob Dylan.”[8]Shortly after, he released his debut album Rhyme Pays in 1987. On that album, he is supported by DJ Evil E, DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam, who helped create the rolling, spare beats and samples that provided a backdrop for the emcee's charismatic rhymes, which were mainly party-oriented; the record wound up being certified gold by the RIAA. That same year, he recorded the theme song for Dennis Hopper's Colors, a film about inner-city life in Los Angeles. The song—also called "Colors"—was stronger, both lyrically and musically, with more incisive lyrics, than anything he had previously released. Power was released in 1988, and it was a more assured and impressive record, earning him strong reviews and his second gold record. Released in 1989, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say established him as a true hip-hop superstar by matching excellent abrasive music with fierce, intelligent narratives, and political commentaries, especially about hip-hop censorship.
In 1989, Ice-T formed his own record label, Rhyme $yndicate Records, which was distributed through Epic/SME Records. However, in the early 1990s, most of the acts signed to that label were re-signed to various Warner Bros. labels because of Ice’s excellent relationship with that label. When Ice split amicably with Sire/Warner Bros. Records after a dispute over the artwork of the album Home Invasion, he reactivated Rhyme $yndicate and formed a deal with Priority/EMI for distribution.
Ice-T is believed to be the first emcee to have ever performed the notorious Crip Walk (or C-Walk) up on stage, in front of cameras sometime in the 1980s. This added to his already controversial fame and gave rise to the C-Walk's mainstream presentation in other videos via WC, Snoop Dogg, Warren G, and other Crip-affiliated rap artists.
In 1991 he released his classic album OG: Original Gangster, which is regarded as one of Gangsta Rap's defining albums. It was also on this album in which he introduced his heavy metal band Body Count. He has released 4 other rap albums since then. His first rap album since 1999, Gangsta Rap, was released on October 31, 2006. The album's cover, which "shows [Ice T] lying on his back in bed with his ravishing wife's ample posterior in full view and one of her legs coyly draped over his private parts," was considered to be too suggestive for most retailers, many of which were reluctant to stock the album.[9] Some reviews of the album were unenthusiastic, as many had hoped for a return to the political raps of Ice-T's most successful albums.
One of the last scenes in Gift (film) includes Ice-T and Body Count playing with Jane's Addiction in a version of the Sly and the Family Stone song "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey."
Besides fronting his own band, Ice-T has also collaborated with other hard rock and metal bands, such as Icepick, Slayer, Motörhead, Pro-Pain, Black Sabbath, and Six Feet Under. He has also covered songs by hardcore punk bands such as The Exploited, Jello Biafra, and Black Flag.
[edit] Acting career
Ice-T debuted as an actor in the films Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo in 1984, only two years after his first 12" ("The Coldest Rap," 1982) appeared. In 1991, he embarked onto a serious acting career, playing a police detective in Mario Van Peebles' feature film New Jack City, gang leader King James in Trespass (1992), followed by a notable lead role performance in Surviving the Game in addition to his many supporting roles, such as J-Bone in Johnny Mnemonic (1995), and the marsupial mutant T-Saint in Tank Girl, 1995. Ice-T was also interviewed in the Brent Owens documentary Pimps Up, Ho's Down, in which he is quoted as saying "I can't act, I really can't act", and raps at the Players Ball.
In 1993 Ice-T along with other rappers and the three Yo! MTV Raps hosts Ed Lover, Doctor Dre and Fab 5 Freddy starred in the comedy Who's the Man? directed by Ted Demme.In this movie Ice is a drug dealer who gets really frustrated when someone calls him by his real name "Chauncey" rather than his street name "Nighttrain".
In 1995 he had a recurring role as vengeful drug dealer Danny Cort on the television series New York Undercover, which was co-created by Dick Wolf. In 1997, Ice-T co-created the short-lived series Players, which was produced by Wolf. These two collaborations led Wolf to add Ice-T to the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where the rapper has portrayed a former undercover gang member, transferred to the Special Victims Unit, Detective Fin Tutuola since 2000, whose character ironically says he is a Republican. Ice-T also appeared in the Law & Order universe as pimp Seymour "Kingston" Stockton in Exiled: A Law & Order Movie. His participation in this show is ironic, given the early controversy surrounding his group Body Count with their song "Cop Killer". Ice-T also appears in the movie Leprechaun: In the Hood. He once was presenter on Channel 4's Baaadasss TV.
In 1999, Ice-T starred in the HBO movie Stealth Fighter as a United States Naval Aviator who fakes his own death, steals a F-117 stealth fighter and threatens to destroy United States military bases. This movie is often criticized for its poor script, military inaccuracies, and significant use of footage from other movies.[10]
Ice-T voiced Madd Dogg in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as well as Agent Cain in Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. He also appears as himself in Def Jam: Fight for NY and UFC: Tapout fighting video games.
Ice-T made an appearance on Chappelle's Show as himself presenting the award for "Player Hater of the Year." He was dubbed the "Original Player Hater."
At WrestleMania 2000, Ice-T performed his song "Pimpin Ain't Easy" during The Godfather and D'Lo Brown's entrance.
He also played as Hamilton in a 2001 thriller film named 3000 Miles to Graceland.
Beyond Tough, a 2002 documentary series aired on Discovery Channel about the world's most dangerous and intense professions, such as alligator wrestlers and Indy 500 pit crews, was hosted by Ice-T.[11]
In 2007, he appeared as a celebrity guest star on the MTV sketch comedy show Short Circuitz. Also in late 2007, Ice-T appeared in the short-music film "Hands of Hatred" which can be found online.
[edit] Reality television
On October 20, 2006 Ice-T's Rap School aired and was a reality television show on VH1. It was a spin-off of the British reality show Gene Simmons' Rock School, which also aired on VH1. In Rap School, rapper/actor Ice-T teaches eight teens from York Preparatory School in New York City how to become a real hip-hop group called the "York Prep Crew" ( "Y.P. Crew" for short). Each week, Ice-T gives them assignments and they compete for an imitation gold chain with a microphone on it. On the season finale on November 17, 2006, the group performed as an opening act for Public Enemy.
[edit] Political views
He has condemned the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in drug trafficking (in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal, as documented in the Kerry Committee report and elsewhere[12]) on tracks such as "This One's for Me" and "Message to the Soldier", and in sections of his book.
Although usually on the political left, he was criticized for misogyny in his lyrics, and this has deterred some liberals from supporting him. The track "I Always Wanted To be a Ho" has sometimes been interpreted[citation needed] as a break with this failure to oppose sexism; it begins by encouraging women to follow their dreams. In The Ice Opinion, he claimed that he was a feminist insofar as he believed in equal pay for women and equal rights generally. He argued against the position that being a stripper or a model is demeaning to women by an analogy with a man who considers a gay man to be demeaning all men by his actions, arguing that if the latter feeling is untenable, the former is as well.
The track "Escape from the Killing Fields" expressed a difference in views from rappers like Chuck D, Redman and Ice Cube in that Ice-T did not see any virtue in staying in the ghetto, but rather encouraged Black people to leave the ghetto. The last track on O.G. Original Gangster is a spoken-word opposition to the Gulf War and to poor conditions in prisons. After Born Dead in 1994, Ice-T's music has contained much less political commentary than before.
In 1994, Ice-T wrote a book titled The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck?.[4] The purpose of the 199-page book was to respond to questions about his political beliefs, his life and the controversy surrounding his music. Having often voiced controversial statements about corruption, he goes into detail about his suspicions of police/CIA involvement in drug trafficking and of how certain businesses profit from prison-building. The ten chapters are:
- The Jungle Creed
- The Killing Fields
- Crime and Punishment
- Men, Women and Sex
- Rap: the art of Shit Talkin'
- Religion: One Percent Nation
- Racism
- Riots and Revolution
- The Controversy
- The Future / No Fear
[edit] Discography
- 1987: Rhyme Pays
- 1988: Power
- 1989: The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say
- 1991: O.G. Original Gangster
- 1993: Home Invasion
- 1996: VI - Return of the Real
- 1999: The Seventh Deadly Sin
- 2006: Gangsta Rap
[edit] Filmography
- 1984: Breakin'
- 1984: Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
- 1991: New Jack City
- 1991: Ricochet
- 1992: Why Colors?
- 1992: Trespass
- 1993: Who's the Man?
- 1994: Surviving the Game
- 1995: Tank Girl
- 1995: Johnny Mnemonic
- 1996: Frankenpenis
- 1997: Mean Guns
- 1997: The Deli
- 1997: Below Utopia
- 1998: Crazy Six
- 1998: Exiled
- 1999: Sonic Impact
- 1999: Frenzo Smooth
- 1999: The Wrecking Crew
- 1999: The Heist
- 1999: Judgement Day
- 1999: Urban Menace
- 1999: Stealth Fighter
- 1999: Final Voyage
- 1999: Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang
- 1999: Corrupt
- 2000: Guardian
- 2000: Sanity, Aiken's Artifact
- 2000: Gangland
- 2000: Leprechaun in the Hood
- 2000: The Alternate
- 2000: The Disciples
- 2001: Stranded
- 2001: Kept
- 2001: Tara
- 2001: Crime Partners 2000
- 2001: 3000 Miles to Graceland
- 2001: Point Doom
- 2001: Deadly Rhapsody
- 2001: R, Xmas
- 2001: Ticker
- 2001: Out Kold
- 2001: Ablaze
- 2001: Air Rage
- 2002: On The Edge
- 2004: Up In Harlem
- 2004: Lexie
- 2004: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- 2005: Tracks
- 2006: Copy That
- 2006: Scarface: The World is Yours
- 2008: The Majic 7
- 2008: Thira
- 2009: Darc
[edit] References
- ^ Miller, Samantha; Nick Charles. "Happy Birthday: 40 And Fabulous As this birthday bunch leave their thirties behind, they learn they have time, and the good life, on their side", People, August 31, 1998. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
- ^ The Arizona Republic.
- ^ a b Ice-T Biography. TVGuide.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ a b Ice T; Sigmund, Heidi (1994). The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck?. Pan Books. ISBN 0330336290.
- ^ Sound off with Matt Pinfield, episode 107.
- ^ Ice-T. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ smileanyway.com Profile page on Ice-T. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ Coleman, Brian, Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies. New York: Villiard/Random House, 2007. pp. 238.
- ^ "Page Six: STORES HOT OVER ICE-T COVER", The New York Times, October 18, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ [andrew]. Stealth Fighter. BadMovies.com.
- ^ Joost list for 2002
- ^ "U.S. Concedes Contras Linked to Drugs, But Denies Leadership Involved," Associated Press (17 April 1986).
[edit] External links
- Official website
- The Full biography on the Coldest Rapper - Ice-T [authored by Balance: 411@hiphop.sh
- Ice T at MySpace
- Ice-T at the Internet Movie Database
- Westcoastpioneers Biography page
- Ice-T on the Music-Map
- Discography at discogs.com
- Ice T - Rap Encyclopedia
- Ice-T's Cyber Judge Show On JumpBoxTV
- TheCyberKrib.com - Interview by Neil Acharya
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